2007 Georgia Gymnastics Season Preview

This is what we know:

• Georgia is the two-time defending NCAA national champion.
• Georgia is the three-time defending SEC champion.
• Georgia lost just one letterwinner off of the 2006 national championship roster.
• With the addition of Courtney McCool, the Gym Dogs now have two former

Olympic medalists set to compete in Stegeman Coliseum this year.
• This year’s team has earned a total of 33 All-America certificates.

But here are the variables that head coach Suzanne Yoculan and her staff must sort out during the year:

• Are the seniors, who have been keys to the program the last three years, ready to lead?
• How will this team, with nearly all routines returning from a year ago, handle shifted roles handed down by the coaching staff?
• Can a team of 17 (there were only 13 on the roster in 2006 and 12 in ’05) work toward one goal for an entire season?
• Will Georgia’s freshmen be ready to compete when the stands are full?

There’s plenty to be excited about as Georgia makes another run at a national title. Not since 1986, when Utah won its fifth consecutive championship, has a team won three NCAA titles in a row. And throughout fall practice it has become clear that another NCAA trophy is the goal of this Georgia team.

“The spirit and camaraderie is great right now,” said Yoculan. “There is an excitement in the gym surrounding an opportunity for a third consecutive championship. They’re taking care of business every day.

“To have a chance to do something in a program that’s never been done before when there are not many records that can be broken here, that’s huge motivation. The leadership on this team is tremendous. We are mentally strong and have one of the most experienced teams in the country. Those are definitely strengths.”

For the first time since 2004, Georgia will have more than one senior on its roster. In fact, three seniors give the Gym Dogs a wealth of experience
this time around.

Kelsey Ericksen and Ashley Kupets have been key members of the Georgia program in each of the last three seasons. Ericksen arrived in Athens as a walk-on, only to capture the SEC’s Freshman of the Year Award. She’s now an eight-time All-American. Kupets seemingly never practices due to a chronic back injury, but she is a five-time All-American with several clutch performances in her career.

Adrienne Dishman also enters her senior campaign for the Gym Dogs. Injuries have been a big part of her career, but in the fall season coaches said that she looked like one of Georgia’s top bar workers.

Audrey Bowers, Nikki Childs, Megan Dowlen and Katie Heenan might as well be seniors. The junior class has experience and success in pressure situations in the most recent championship runs.

For Bowers, the top scores of her career have come in the post-season. Childs is a four-time All-American who has also peaked at the championship events. Dowlen entered last year’s Super Six Finals as a replacement in the vault lineup, posting a career-best score of 9.875. And Heenan, who placed first at the SEC Championships in the all-around and balance beam in 2005, has now claimed seven All-America awards.

Paige Burns, Courtney Kupets, Abby Stack and Tiffany Tolnay joined a championship team a year ago and made it better in their freshman seasons.

Burns was set to compete on vault and bars in 2006, but injuries slowed her progress.

Kupets had one of the best seasons ever by a Gym Dog last season. Her three NCAA individual national titles tied a Georgia record. And she scored a 9.9 or higher 40 times, which is second in Georgia history for one season.

By the end of 2006, Stack owned the leadoff spot in Georgia’s floor exercise lineup. She competed on that event in all but one meet.

Tolnay’s freshman season was also one of the best in Georgia history. She joined Cory Fritzinger, Courtney Kupets, Hope Spivey and Heather Stepp
as the only Georgia gymnasts to have three first-team All-America honors in their rookie season. Tolnay was a first-teamer on vault and beam and placed
fourth in the national all-around.

Now a group of six freshmen look to add to a program that has a history of excellence by first-year contributors. Georgia leads the SEC with seven Freshmen of the Year, and eight Gym Dogs have won multiple All-America honors in their first season.

Courtney McCool is the eighth Olympian to join Georgia’s program. She won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games with the U.S. team, and she was
the runner-up in the all-around at the ’04 Olympic trials.

Marcia Newby trained at the same facility as former Gym Dog Cory Fritzinger, and had several international wins prior to arriving in Athens.

Grace Taylor also has a resume of wins overseas, and was a beam champion at JO Nationals in 2001 and 2006.

A trio of Georgia natives also join the Gym Dogs’ roster this season.

Christi Fortunato (Martinez), Lauren Johnson (Cartersville) and Lauren Sessler (Snellville) look to make an impact in their first season.

Yoculan says Georgia’s 2007 team can be as good as any she’s had, but the variables within her team, and on teams around the nation, will go far
in determining this year’s national champion.

“If you ask me right now if we’re better than we were last year, I’d say yes,” Yoculan said. “But there are other teams across the county that have improved as well. The top four finishers at last year’s NCAAs are pretty equal talent-wise, so the margin of victory comes from team chemistry and leadership. It’s a process, so we’ll have to wait and see how the season unfolds.”

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